A Massacre Foretold (review)

Fifteen years after Chiapas' Zapatistas burst onto the scene, themes central to their rebellion—indigenous and women's rights, the impact of globalization, democratization, autonomy, and the transformation of Left—remain deeply relevant throughout Latin America. In the late 1990s, libraries and bookstores were awash in documentary videos (of varying quality) on the Zapatistas and their enigmatic spokesman, Subcomandante Marcos. I used Saul Landau's The Sixth Sun (1995) in my classes for many years, despite its overly romantic treatment of Marcos and his movement. This film and others became dated following the PRI's electoral defeat in 2000 and the rise of autonomous Zapatista communities in eastern Chiapas in 2003. The need for an update on the conflict was clear.

Nick Higgins' recent documentary A Massacre Foretold offers instructors and the interested public a thoughtful, visually striking analysis of the Acteal massacre of 22 December 1997. On that day, 45 unarmed men, women, and children were murdered by PRI paramilitaries. The victims were members of Sociedad Civil Las Abejas (Bees Civil Society), a Christian organization that supports the Zapatista cause but rejects the use of violence.

Higgins' documentary features incredible footage of the events of November 1997, weeks before the actual massacre. With plumes of smoke rising off in the distance, an indigenous man from the nearby community of Pohló tells how local paramilitaries were chasing the pacifists from their homes, looting their possessions, and then setting their homes ablaze. The next clip shows refugees from Acteal, mostly barefoot men, women, and children, trudging silently in the rain, shivering from fear and from the cold, carrying their only remaining worldly possessions on their backs. Many of the adults have a look of shocked resignation. As the film notes, many of these people were dead a few weeks later.

The actual massacre of Acteal was not filmed, of course, but Higgins' interviews with former bishop Samuel Ruiz and the late anthropologist (and Zapatista advisor) Andrés Aubry make clear that the massacre was no accident. State police stationed a couple hundred meters away made no attempt to stop the shooting, which lasted five hours. Dozens of poor indigenous men from Acteal and other hamlets in Chenalhó have been charged for their roles in the massacre, but the ringleaders, the intellectual authors, have not been tried.

For all its strengths, A Massacre Foretold is not a stand-alone video. Time constraints forced Higgins into several short cuts. The video assumes familiarity with the Zapatistas, their demands, and their spokesman. The PRI is not described, and neither is the Las Abejas organization. The video rather simplistically pins the blame on Ernesto Zedillo, president of Mexico when the massacre took place. But most specialists agree that the paramilitaries had been armed by elements of the state PRI over which Zedillo may have had little control. The video does not mention that following the massacre, Zedillo sacked his interior minister, Emilio Chuayffet, and forced the resignation of Chiapas state governor Julio César Ruiz Ferro. Certainly Zedillo wanted to weaken the Zapatistas' civilian base, but it is hard to see how this massacre—a public relations nightmare—served his interests.

A Massacre Foretold is most useful as a visual companion to a classroom friendly text on modern Chiapas (like Higgins' own very useful Understanding the Chiapas Rebellion [Austin, 2004] or Shannan Mattiace's To See with Two Eyes [Albuquerque, 2003]). Instructors might also lecture on the causes of the rebellion and the current stalemate in Chiapas. Arguably, the Acteal massacre was a watershed moment in the Zapatista rebellion. After Acteal, good-faith negotiations with the Mexican government were out of the question. At the same time, Mexico seemed to take a step back from the precipice and avoided what some call "Salvadorization." Paramilitary groups still operate in Chiapas, and tensions still run high. The Zapatistas' demands have yet to be addressed. But bloodletting on the scale of Acteal has not been replicated.